ST. LOUIS—This was the start Adam Wainwright had been awaiting for a long time.

After watching the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series last year without him, Wainwright wanted his shot to contribute to another postseason run.

It looked like he had blown his chance last week when he left the Cardinals in a six-run hole in the decisive game of the Division Series against the Nationals. Wainwright said that sitting in the dugout after being pulled in the third inning was the lowest point of his baseball career. Then the Cardinals staged one of their incredible rallies and Wainwright had another chance.

And this time, he was vintage Wainwright. The 6-foot-7 right-hander went seven innings Thursday night at Busch Stadium and allowed the San Francisco Giants one run on four hits, walking none and striking out five. When he departed, the Cardinals led by seven runs; two innings later, they had an 8-3 victory that left them just one win away from returning to the World Series. This time, Wainwright would be far more than a cheerleader.

“I wanted to be out there so bad last year and I couldn’t do a thing about it,” he said. He was still recovering from elbow surgery at the time. “As painful as it was not to be able to help last year, I feel like I’m a major contributor this year. And I’m having a lot of fun doing it.”

Nobody in the home team’s dugout was surprised to see Wainwright bounce back in a big way. “He was barely getting off the mound in Washington and telling everybody to pick him up,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “He wanted another chance to pitch. I think we all knew we’d see something pretty special if he did get that opportunity.”

They weren’t disappointed. Against the Giants, Wainwright established control of his fastball from the outset and mixed in a curve that Matheny said was “as good as I’ve seen.” Wainwright needed only 96 pitches to complete his night, and 70 of them were strikes.

“Typical Adam Wainwright,” said rotation mate Chris Carpenter. “He came from first pitch to last pitch and competed, located and controlled the game.”

Wainwright made a mistake with a cutter in the second that Hunter Pence knocked 451 feet into the left-field seats but other than that, he did not allow more than one base runner in any inning except the sixth. In that one, he gave up consecutive one-out singles to bring up the Giants’ best hitters, Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval. If there was a situation to shake his confidence, this was it.

Then his catcher, Yadier Molina, went out about halfway to the mound and, Wainwright said, “told me this is your game.”

“After that, I knew I was going to get him out,” Wainwright said. “I felt so much confidence run through my veins.”

Posey lined an 88 mph cutter pretty deep to right but Allen Craig hauled it in with no problem. Sandoval grounded to second and the threat was over.

“That probably was the game,” Wainwright said. “If they put up a two- or three-spot there, it’s a whole different ballgame.”

Now the Cardinals are a win from returning to the World Series and Wainwright is right where he was hoping to be.

“This season has gone so fast to me,” he said. “I just can’t believe where we are right now. When I missed last year, in the offseason I was like, ‘Can we please do that again next year?’ We have to win a few more games but we are putting ourselves in a good position and I’m so excited for that.”

Which begs the question: What is more fun, celebrating a World Series during which you’ve played spectator or delivering a shutdown performance in Game 4 of the NLCS?